If the idea of an ARM-powered laptop interests you, but you feel that the current models lack a bit in the memory department, you’re in luck. Real tipster Roland Quandt shared some details on Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon X2 Elite chipset, suggesting it could support more RAM and have more cores.
Snapdragon X2 Elite leaked details
According to Quandt, Qualcomm could bump the amount of max RAM supported by the Snapdragon X2 Elite to 64GB. Currently, laptops powered by the Snapdragon X Elite chipset are limited to 32GB of RAM. This change doesn’t mean all Snapdragon X2 Elite laptops will have 64GB of RAM. It’s more like computer makers now have more options to choose from, and customers will also have more configurations to pick from depending on their needs.
The details also reveal that Qualcomm is testing a variant of the Snapdragon X2 Elite with 18 CPU cores, versus the 12 cores found on the current Snapdragon X Elite.
In addition to the Elite model, the rumors are claiming that we can look forward to a Snapdragon X2 Plus. This is the successor to the Snapdragon X Plus. These new chipsets will most likely be announced at the Snapdragon Summit later this September in Hawaii. We also expect that Qualcomm will take the wraps off its next-gen smartphone chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2.
More ARM-powered laptops
Apple really turned the computing world on its head when it made the decision to ditch Intel’s x86 chips in favor of its own ARM-powered Apple Silicon chips. However, Apple wasn’t the first to market with these types of chips or computers. Qualcomm had previously worked with Microsoft to come up with a custom ARM-powered Snapdragon chip for Microsoft’s Surface computers.
However, the Snapdragon X series really opened it up to other computer makers. Now we have companies like Lenovo, HP, and Acer, who all have Snapdragon X-powered laptops in the market.
One of the main advantages of using an ARM chipset over traditional x86 chips is size and space. These chipsets are a lot smaller, which means computers can be made lighter. They also, for the most part, do not require a fan, which makes them quieter. Battery life is also another perk of laptops using ARM-based chips.
So, if you’re in the market for a new ARM laptop, you might want to hold off until September, where we’ll most likely see new laptops using Qualcomm’s latest chipset.
